Comforts Are Working‑Class Gifts

Modern urban comforts (cheap electricity, services, and leisure) should be treated analytically as transfers sustained by underpaid manual labor rather than as abstract public goods. Framing them as 'gifts' from the working class makes visible the moral and economic debts implicit in comfortable lifestyles. — Making visible the dependency of middle‑class comforts on exploited labor reframes debates about redistribution, labor dignity, and cultural elites’ responsibilities.